Monday, July 21, 2014

Horizon and climate change

There’s a strong story element running right through Horizon about environmental collapse and
climate change. It’s a topic that has emerged in recent years as the key
political issue of our times, as some governments show a commitment to
sustainable living and climate-friendly activities while others appear to be
going backwards.

The accumulated scientific evidence of the past decade has
proven beyond any doubt that humanity is responsible for the deterioration of
our climate today, and failure to act is not an option. But in the future Earth
of Horizon, it takes a sustained
weather event that renders most of the eastern seaboard of North
America uninhabitable before governments finally come together to
act. Hopefully that won’t come to pass, and our elected representatives will put
aside short-term political posturing for long-term, effective solutions.

In the novel, concerted action proves successful in staving
off the worst effects of climate change. Earth can breathe easy, at least for a
while, and the new found spirit of cooperation leads to the creation of a
magnificent enterprise: the development and launch of the first interstellar
explorer ship — Magellan — with a
multi-national crew set on a journey to the Iota Persei star system that will
take over half a century to complete.

But even the best intentions can sour, and when Magellan’s crew awaken from deepsleep,
they learn that Earth is facing a new environmental catastrophe and their
mission of exploration may have to become a survey mission to assess their
target planet for colonisation as humanity prepares to flee a dying Earth.

But if mankind has trashed its own environment, what gives
us the right to appropriate — and potentially ruin — that of another planet? A
planet which may have its own indigenous life? And what of those who will be
left behind because there’s not enough room on the arks? The crew of Magellan is by no means reconciled to do
what Earth asks, and some of them are prepared to take whatever action is
necessary to save Horizon from human settlement…

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SF quotes

"the Culture had placed its bets—long before the Idiran war had been envisaged—on the machine rather than the human brain. This was because the Culture saw itself as being a self-consciously rational society; and machines, even sentient ones, were more capable of achieving this desired state as well as more efficient at using it once they had. That was good enough for the Culture."— Iain M. Banks